ALGIERS, June 16, 2010 (Reuters) -- Algeria's Cevital, the biggest sugar refiner in north Africa, has more than doubled its annual output capacity to 1.65 million tonnes and market conditions are right for increasing exports, a top executive said on Wednesday. Malik Rebrab, vice president of Cevital and director of its sugar refinery, said the firm plans to raise production levels even further and has gained an important share of the market in north Africa, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. "We currently have a capacity of 1.65 million tonnes. We aim to increase this capacity," he said in a telephone interview from the refinery in the port town of Bejaia, east of Algiers. His father and Cevital's Chief Executive Issad Rebrab told Reuters in September the sugar production of the family-owned company was 800,000 tonnes last year but there was a plan to raise capacity and export some 900,000 tonnes. "We have already started exporting to foreign markets. Our main clients included the Gulf region, the Middle East, Italy, Switzerland, Bangladesh and Tunisia," Malik Rebrab said. "We are an important economic player on the market." He declined to give details on the volume of exports and prices. He said the quantities destined for export depend on the situation on the global market, adding that current prices were encouraging for suppliers of the commodity. "The volume is determined by the market situation. When prices go down we opt for storage. The current market conditions are very interesting (for exporters)," he said. Algeria's annual requirement of white sugar is about 1 million tonnes, and Cevital imports most of its raw sugar from Brazil.

October 21, 2010 -- Cevital, Algeria’s biggest sugar producer, plans to expand its Bejaia refinery by 25 percent next year to tap rising international demand for the commodity, Chief Executive Officer Issad Rebrab said. Cevital, which already controls about 85 percent of the Algerian market, refines some 2 million metric tons of sugar annually in the port town of Bejaia, and plans to add 500,000 tons in 2011 at a cost of about $15 million, Rebrab said. About half of its output will be earmarked for export. Global sugar demand is forecast to climb 2.1 percent in the 2010-11 season, more than double the year-earlier pace, as world production rises 5.4 percent, Macquarie Group Ltd. said in a report last week. Refiners are expanding output to benefit from prices that have jumped about 17 percent in the past 12 months. “We want to reach 2.5 million tons of capacity at Bejaia in the next 12 months,” Rebrab said in an interview at a trade conference in Montreal yesterday. “We have already begun the studies. Most of the infrastructure we need is already in place, so we don’t need to make a big investment.” Cevital sells its sugar in countries such as India, Sudan, Tunisia, Iraq and Saudi Arabia, Rebrab said. The company would consider further expanding capacity to 3 million tons should demand continue to rise, he said, without providing a timeframe.

Prices soar

Refined-sugar futures touched $731.70 a ton on NYSE Liffe in London yesterday, the highest price since February. Prices have gained over the past year on forecasts for reduced crop yields in Brazil, Pakistan and Russia. Closely held Cevital has about 12,500 employees and annual sales of $2.2 billion. Food-processing operations such as oil, margarine and sugar account for about 60 percent of revenue. The company also imports cars and develops shopping centers, among other businesses.

Sugar isn’t the only food business targeted for growth. Cevital intends to build a $100 million oilseed-crushing plant, also in Bejaia, that would supply export markets, Rebrab said. Construction will begin once Cevital receives permission from Algeria’s government, “probably in a few months,” he said. The company is also awaiting government approval for a deepwater harbor, a shipyard, two steel factories, an aluminum smelter - together with Rio Tinto Group - and a car plant. These and other planned projects would require Cevital and foreign partners to invest as much as $30 billion, Rebrab said.

Project financing

Cevital has lined up 1.4 billion euros ($2 billion) from two international banks to part-fund the projects, Rebrab said, declining to identify the banks. Shippers including France’s CMA CGM SA and Denmark’s A.P. Moeller-Maersk A/S are interested in investing in the deepwater harbor, he said. Cevital would consider selling a stake to international investors or offering shares in some of its units on the stock market to raise more capital, Rebrab said, stressing that no transaction is imminent. “Our strategy to finance our share of the projects is to first use our cash flows, our lines of credit, and possibly raise debt on the Algerian market,” he said. “If we don’t have enough money from these sources, then we will list some of our units on the stock market. But this is still a long way away.”

ALGIERS, December 1, 2010 (Reuters) -- Algeria's Cevital plans to double to 1 million tonnes its white sugar exports before the end of next year and will raise production capacity by 25 percent as it boosts business with Asia, its top executive said on Wednesday. Issad Rebrab, unveiling for the first the volume of exports by North Africa's biggest sugar refiner, told Reuters sales to foreign markets now stand at an annual 400,000-500,000 tonnes. "Our output capacity is currently at 2 million tonnes ... We plan to increase our production capacity to 2.5 million tonnes next year," Rebrab said in an interview. The company has added clients in India and Sri Lanka to its portfolio of customers in Asia after Bangladesh, said Rebrab, Cevital's sole owner. "With the current capacity we managed not only to meet the national market needs but also to export a surplus," Rebrab said on the sidelines of a business conference in Algiers. In June, his son Malik Rebrab, director of Cevital's sugar refinery, told Reuters the firm planned to raise the capacity of its plant in the Mediterranean city of Bejaia which he put then at 1.65 million tonnes. Algeria, with its 35-million population, annually consumes about 1 million tonnes of white sugar. Cevital, Algeria's sole sugar refiner, imports most of its raw sugar from Brazil but faces competition from Algerian importers of white sugar. "Our main goal is to meet domestic demand and export the rest. This is how we can be competitive on the international market. We are planning to export around 1 million tonnes in 2011. The volume of exports is now at 400,000-500,000 tonnes," Issad Rebrab added. Cevital has said its main clients abroad include the Gulf region, the Middle east, Switzerland, Bangladesh and Tunisia. "We are exporting to different regions in the world. In addition to Europe, Maghreb countries and Saudi Arabia, we export also to India and Sri Lanka," Rebrab said. Cevital has also been exporting cooking oil among other food products.